Page 20 - Summer2011

why sulfur is a healing agent. remain unexplained physiologically. However,
Like vitamin D sulfate, cholesterol sulfate is also water-soluble, and I strongly suspect it is the sulfated form of the
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it too, unlike cholesterol, does not have to be packaged up inside LDL for vitamin that instantiates these benefits, and my
delivery to the tissues. reasons for this belief will become clearer in a
Here I pose the interesting question: where do vitamin D sulfate and moment.
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cholesterol sulfate go once they are in the blood stream, and what role do One very special feature of cholesterol
they play in the cells? Surprisingly, as far as I can tell, nobody knows. sulfate, as opposed to cholesterol itself, is that
It has been determined that the sulfated form of vitamin D is strikingly it is very agile: due to its polarity it can pass
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ineffective for calcium transport, the well-known “primary” role of vitamin freely through cell membranes, almost like a
D . However, vitamin D clearly has many other positive effects (it seems ghost. This means that cholesterol sulfate can
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that more and more are being discovered every day), and these include a easily enter a fat or muscle cell. I am developing
role in cancer protection, increased immunity against infectious disease, a theory which at its core proposes an essential
and protection against heart disease. Researchers don’t yet understand role for cholesterol sulfate in the metabolism of
how it achieves these benefits, which have been observed empirically but glucose for fuel by these cells. Below, I will show

especially considering that both human keratinocytes and C. tepidum can synthesize an interesting UV-B absorbing cofac-
tor, tetrahydrobioptin. This cofactor is found universally in mammalian cells, and one of its roles is to regulate the synthesis
of melanin, the skin pigment that is associated with a tan and protects the skin from damage by UV-light exposure.
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However, tetrahydrobiopsin is very rare in the bacterial kingdom, and C. tepidum is one of the very few bacteria that can
synthesize it.
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Let me summarize at this point where I’m on solid ground and where I’m speculating. It is undisputed that the skin
synthesizes cholesterol sulfate in large amounts, and it has been suggested that the skin is the major supplier of choles-
terol sulfate to the blood stream. The skin also synthesizes vitamin D sulfate upon exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is
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synthesized from cholesterol, with oxysterols (created from sun exposure) as an intermediate step (oxysterols are forms
of cholesterol with hydroxyl groups attached at various places in the carbon chain). The body can’t synthesize vitamin D
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sulfate from vitamin D so it must be that sulfation happens first, producing cholesterol sulfate or hydroxy-cholesterol
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sulfate, which is then optionally converted to vitamin D sulfate or shipped out “as is.”
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Another highly significant feature of skin cells is that the skin stores sulfate ions attached to molecules that are univer-
sally present in the intracellular matrix, such as heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and keratin sulfate . Furthermore, it
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has been shown that exposure of the melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) to molecules containing reduced sulfur (-2)
leads to suppression of melanin synthesis, whereas exposure to molecules like chondroitin sulfate that contain oxidized
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sulfur (+6) leads to enhancement of melanin synthesis. Melanin is a potent UV-light absorber, and it would compete
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with reduced sulfur for the opportunity to become oxidized. It is therefore logical that, when sulfur is reduced, melanin
synthesis should be suppressed, so that sulfur can absorb the solar energy and convert it to very useful chemical bonds in
the sulfate ion.
The sulfate would eventually be converted back to sulfide by a muscle cell in the heart or a skeletal muscle (simulta-
neously recovering the energy to fuel the cell and unlocking the oxygen to support aerobic metabolism of glucose), and
the cycle would continually repeat.
Why am I spending so much time talking about all of this? Well, if I’m right, then the skin can be viewed as a solar-
powered battery for the heart, and that is a remarkable concept. The energy in sunlight is converted into chemical energy
in the oxygen-sulfur bonds, and then transported through the blood vessels to the heart and skeletal muscles. The cho-
lesterol sulfate and vitamin D sufate are carriers that deliver the energy (and the oxygen) “door-to-door” to the individual
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heart and skeletal muscle cells.
Today’s lifestyle, especially in America, severely stresses this system. First of all, most Americans believe that any food
containing cholesterol is unhealthy, so the diet is extremely low in cholesterol. Eggs are an excellent source of sulfur, but
because of their high cholesterol content we have been advised to eat them sparingly. Second, as I discussed previously,
natural food plant sources of sulfur are likely to be deficient due to sulfur depletion in the soil. Third, water softeners remove
sulfur from our water supply, which would otherwise be a good source. Fourth, we have been discouraged from eating
too much red meat, an excellent source of sulfur-containing amino acids. Finally, we have been instructed by doctors and
other authoritarian sources to stay out of the sun and wear high SPF sunscreen whenever we do get sun exposure.
Another significant contributor is the high carbohydrate, lowfat diet, which leads to excess glucose in the blood stream,
which glycates LDL particles and renders them ineffective in delivering cholesterol to the tissues. One of those tissues is
the skin, so skin becomes further depleted in cholesterol due to glycation damage to LDL.

20 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2011

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